Golf Lessons

Bryce and Caleb were old enough this year to be able to take golf lessons. Last year Caleb was obsessed with golfing and going to the range, this year I think the boat has somewhat replaced golf as an obsession but he still likes it. Bryce has never been all that excited about golfing but when I asked him if he wanted to take lessons he said yes. They took their lessons at Jim Ager Junior Golf Course. It is nice that Lincoln has a junior golf course. The instructor was a guy from our church as was very nice and fun.

They took a "big group lesson" where they learned the different parts of the golf course, course etiquette, the different types of clubs and the basics of hitting.

I think they liked it alright but they didn't really seem excited enough for us to go onto private lessons after this.

Our little golfers

4th of July

On the morning of July 4th we headed to Waverly for the annual parade. Lincoln only has a winter parade and the kids really enjoy catching candy and watching the parade. We got there an hour early since I was wrong on the time but no big deal we headed to the park and played for awhile.

Bryce peaking over the side.

Abby being silly

Robb beating up Draven. The kids love hanging out with their cousin.

We got a great spot and we were all ready to watch the parade. Just like last year, Bryce nabbed all the candy, coupons, flyers and pens that he could get his hands on. Caleb and Draven were slightly more picky and just picked up the candy that they liked. Abby watched the floats go by and would grab some candy here and there and eat it right away. Silly girl.

Abby thought this horse with the hat on was the coolest thing ever.

When we got back to our house we lite off more fireworks.

Abby being brave and lighting a smoke bomb.

Bryce is taking after his dad and was a little "pyro". He put black cats in the hands of one of his figurines and lite them like that.

Caleb was getting a bit too comfortable with lighting fireworks. He wouldn't even run after lighting them, he would just saunter back.

Caleb, Draven, Bryce and Abby

July 4th Celebrations

The kids look forward to July 4th celebrations all summer long! They could hardly wait for Robb to get home on the 3rd so that they could go purchase their fireworks. They hate the fact that we make them follow the Lincoln law of not buying them until the 3rd since almost everyone else goes to a smaller town and gets them before that day.

 This year the boys were convinced that they were old enough to light all the fireworks. With Robb's supervision they did end up lighting most of the fireworks.

The smoke bombs and inch and halfers were still the favorites. I think we went through $20.00 of smoke bombs alone.

Abby was even a bit brave and lite off a few smoke bombs with some help.

Draven was going to hang out with us for the night and since all of our kids are a little older and could stay up later, we decided to try going to the Oak Lake firework show. We went over to Jenny and Bob Roeder's house and planned to walk over with them from their house. The kids were all very excited. We ate snacks and hung out at their house until about 9:30 and then walked over. We didn't go into the park but go at good spot that bordered the park. We got our sleeping bags all laid out and waited for the show.

We ended up having great seats and the fireworks were really neat. The kids had a great time! When it was time to go it go interesting! We had 6 children between the 4 adults and a lot of gear to carry back. It was like a wall of people coming out of the park and it was hard to keep track of all the kids but it would have been a terrifying place to lose a child so we did our best and we all made it back to Jenny and Bob's house.

Girls Weekend Out (June 29-30)

I usually get to school shop with my niece Brook before she goes back to school but this year she was going on vacation the couple weeks before school and we just needed an excuse to have a fun girls weekend. Abby and I met Susie, Ginger and Brook in Omaha to get our weekend started. We shopped all afternoon at Village Point Mall and ate a yummy lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. The girls were such troopers while us moms shopped so a couple hours into shopping Grandma decided it was time that the girls got to do something fun. We headed over to Oakview mall and Grandma took the girls to the Build A Bear workshop. Ginger and I continued our shopping.

 

The girls had a blast building a bear. They both picked the tye dyed bear. Abby's had a tutu and ballet shoes and Brooks sported a back to school outfit. They loved their bears!

After making a stop at JoAnn fabric to get material for Abby's flower girl dress we headed to our hotel downtown. We relaxed there for a bit before taking the shuttle to the Old Market to eat supper. We didn't have specific plans as to where we would eat but we were all starving. We found a place that didn't have an hour wait and enjoyed a nice supper.

Brook and Abby spotted the horse drawn carriage and were immediately in love with it. Grandma thought that they couldn't possibly go to the Old Market without taking a ride in a horse drawn carriage to that is what we did. 

The girls thought it was pretty cool!

They loved the horse that we had!

After our ride we caught the shuttle back to the hotel to put some very tired little girls to bed.

I was also informed by Ginger that I was officially OLD now. After putting the girls to bed I got into my pajamas and when Ginger came in our room she was appalled by the fact that I was planning on going to bed at 10:30. I guess I am old.

After a bit more shopping and breakfast the next morning, Abby and I headed back to Lincoln to see how the boys survived without us. Abby was exhausted! Thanks for a fun weekend Susie, Ginger and Brook!

Milford Lake Outing (June 22)

We had a full weekend where nothing was planned so we decided to take the boat out of town. Robb had been wanting to try out Milford lake which was about 3 hours away. We packed a lunch, snacks and stuff to BBQ later. John, Megan and our family headed out for the day.

The lake was huge and probably usually would have been a great lake for water sports but we picked the windiest day of the entire summer to go.

 

About the only water sports we could do was tube and swim. The kids had a blast but we had to throw the rope out to them so they could pull themselves back in after they had been swimming because the boat would float so far away so fast.

Bryce was a brave tuber!

Abby, Megan and Bryce playing on the tube.

This picture of Robb cracks me up! Abby was going to jump at the same time as him but decided not to at the last minute. I guess this is his mean face to her.

Bryce and Mom

Caleb and mom

Megan and the whole crew

 

We all had a fun day! We learned that the boat can handle waves higher than it and still make it through. After a day on the lake we attempted to grill out at the state park. Thanks to John and Robb's creativity we had grilled hamburgers. To stop the hurricane force winds they had turned picnic tables on their end as a wind break. Thanks to the creativity of Megan and I we could still have s'mores even though we didn't bring sticks to cook the marshmallows on. We instead wrapped them in foil and stuck them in the fire that the boys had made.

New Job

While Robb was out of town and the kids were gone I had scheduled an interview in Endoscopy. The NICU has been really slow lately and ideally I would like to be working part time now and I am having trouble picking up any shifts there at times. This opportunity came up in Endoscopy and one of the girls that used to work in the NICU told me she really liked it and that I should apply. I was pretty nervous since I haven't done adult nursing in so long but I decided to give it a try. I have really enjoyed my volunteering job at Clinic with a Heart through the church and that is with adult patients so it gave me a little confidence that I could still do it.
My interview went great! I got the job on the spot and it seems like it is something that will be a good fit. It will be day shifts so I will have to make myself be a morning person at least once a week but I think I can handle that. I did find out that I have to be certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support before I can start the job. This has me pretty nervous since I have heard it is a very hard class so hopefully it goes alright. I will have to hit the books hard that next couple of weeks.

A Couple Days to Myself (June 17-20)

The kids went to Norfolk on Monday the 17th and stayed with the Lutz's for a couple days and with Grandma Jody for a day. The kids had a blast of course! They got all the snacks they could ever want and got to go to bed late most nights. I really missed them! Robb and I went on our first date night in 6 months. I know that sounds really sad and pathetic but I had broke my ankle in January the day after our date night and then I was out of commission for 3.5 months. Anyway, we went out and had a great time. We went to a new restaurant that we had never tried before. We tried Issera ( I think this was the name). It was a mix of Chinese and Thai food. It was delicious! After a great supper we changed into comfy clothes and headed to Pioneer Park with Penny for a nighttime walk. It was a very enjoyable evening to ourselves. Thanks to the Grandma's and Grandpa for keeping the kiddos.
The next morning Robb left early for Kentucky for a couple days. It was just Penny and I. I thought I had a long list of things to do that would be easier by myself but instead it seemed too quiet and I didn't know what to do with myself. I shopped a little, watched movies, took a nap and got Chinese food. Not sure I made the most of my time but it was still good to have a break.

Water Park

On June 17 the kids were going to go stay in Norfolk for a couple days while Robb went to Kentucky for work and I had to work overnights. I decided to leave a little early that day and we hit up the Columbus waterpark on the way to Norfolk. We have been to this waterpark before and it is always a blast but I have never taken them by myself which made me a little nervous. It turned out that this year the kids were so much easier to watch in the water! Bryce and Caleb have become good enough swimmers that they can get themselves to the side if they can't touch and they can actually swim to get to where they want to go. This waterpark worked out great for us. It had the zero depth entry and then they had the lines that showed where it was getting deeper. I was able to stand in the middle of those lines and watch Abby play in the area where she could touch and it bordered the area where the boys could just barely touch so they liked playing there. It was a great day! I had fun spending time with the kids and I think they all had a good time too.

 

Bryce's favorite thing was the rope ladder and the different animals that you have to jump to. He was pretty good at it this year and would just monkey bar it to the next animal if he couldn't jump there.

Abby was a fish in the water! She was even throwing diving toys and diving down to get them.

Caleb was also loving retrieving the diving toys. I didn't get a very good picture of him. He was moving too fast and was too busy.

Abby bellyflopping in.

Time for a snack!

Dads Day

On Sunday we were all still trying to recover from the 2 previous days full of birthday parties. We just hung out at the house most of the day. Later that night we took the boat to the lake. Robb has thoroughly enjoyed having his new boat this year and I must admit it is pretty nice having a boat that starts every time. We had a fun filled family evening of swimming and I even got brave enough to drive the boat so that Robb could wakeboard. I always used to drive the boat for him but I haven't had to do it in a while and I was worried about hurt the new boat. Luckily it went fine and he got some good wakeboarding in.

Happy Fathers Day to the best Dad my kids could ever ask for and the greatest husband ever!

 

Family Party

The 7 year olds!

Bryce was pretty proud of his Star Wars Cake.

Caleb's Monster Truck Cake

I think they got a little spoiled with the presents. As always!

Andy and the kids

The "triplets"

Bryce, Caleb and Draven

Our family.

We are so lucky to have so much family that is able to come and help us celebrate!

The Lutz's

Happy Birthday Bryceman!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Abby and Brook. It has already started that the girls stay away from the boys.